60 day GMAT Study Guide

[Raja Kadri]

Brent,

My plan is going well. Few observations:

1) I find the questions in the GMAT Quantitative Review are bit easier than the OG. However, I continue to have issues with DS questions which is a concern. I hope that I will master them before my GMAT.

2) I am getting many questions right ( even DS comapre to KAPLAN course which I just finsihed) which makes me bit nervous:). Your thoughts are appreciated on this.

3) I have gotton many questions right with guessing and doing my own method to reach an answer. Is that the right way because how do I know that my my own method will work on similar problems on the actual test.

Once again, this opportunity is a God send.

Raja

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Hi Raja,

1) Not to worry - everybody has issues with DS questions at first. For many many years we have been tackling questions similar to PS questions and then, all of a sudden, we are forced to deal with these DS question types that are completely foreign to us.

The important thing to remember is that these question types can be mastered, but it takes time to for them to become "second nature."

2) It's interesting that your success on the questions is making you nervous. Perhaps you're worried that it seems to good to be true. That sort of modest/humble reaction is a nice quality; however to do well on the GMAT, I think you should try to adopt a different mindset.

One of my math professors once told me that doing well in mathematics is 90% confidence. If you are confident, the questions don't stand a chance. I believe this is true. So, when you do well on the practice questions, you should think "Of course I did well - these questions never had a chance against my brilliance"

3) The great thing about GMAT questions is that there are almost always 2 or more different approaches that will work. If you are arriving at the correct answer then you are on the right track.

Now, having said that, always try to see if you can solve a question in more than one way. Either try to think of multiple approaches or review explanations and make sure you follow the logic. On test day, you want many problem-solving tools at your disposal.

Brent,

My plan is going well. Few observations:

1) I find the questions in the GMAT Quantitative Review are bit easier than the OG. However, I continue to have issues with DS questions which is a concern. I hope that I will master them before my GMAT.

2) I am getting many questions right ( even DS comapre to KAPLAN course which I just finsihed) which makes me bit nervous:). Your thoughts are appreciated on this.

3) I have gotton many questions right with guessing and doing my own method to reach an answer. Is that the right way because how do I know that my my own method will work on similar problems on the actual test.

Once again, this opportunity is a God send.

Raja

[Raja Kadri]

Brent,

As mentioned earlier, I have gotton quite a few questions right in DS by guessing and after reading the explanation, I am not sure so I insert NO in the column Did you identify the concept tested? Any thoughts on how I should master that conecpt? Should I contact you for an explantion or any other way where I am not contacting you everyday for explanations? May be I could gather the explanations which I did not understand and ask you at the end of the each week?

Thank you again,

Raja

[marisilva]

Hi,

First, thank you so much for the 60 day Study Guide- It has already been really helpful!
Second, I have the Official Guide 11th edition and I know the 12th and 11th are pretty similiar but I can't find some of the questions that you recommend in my book. Do you have some kind of study guide for the 11th - like rations question numbers this or that?
Do you think should I buy the 12th edition or I can still work with the 11th??

Thank you so much!

Mariana

[beatthegmat]

We don't have a similar study guide built for OG11, but with some effort you can probably adapt the recommended concept/questions reviews to OG11. OG12 would be ideal to practice from, but it's a nice to have.

Good luck!

[marisilva]

Eric,

Thank you! I guess I will buy the 12th edition too .

[beatthegmat]

I think it's a good move to purchase. Studying from the latest GMAT prep material is always ideal if you can do it!

Good luck!